Talk description:
As children, we loved to catch fireflies or lightning bugs on warm, summer nights, but few of us realized the secrets these insects were hiding. During our talk, you'll discover the hidden world of fireflies and learn about their biology, behaviors, lifestyles, and survival mechanisms. You'll learn how to identify local species, why many fireflies are threatened today, and what you can do to advance firefly conservation. Following the talk, we'll walk the grounds to identify firefly species at NKU REFS.
Bio:
Matthew Speights is an avocational naturalist with interests in botany, entomology, and paleontology. As a young boy, he experienced the common dinosaur craze, but this grew from a phase into a permanent nature obsession that currently manifests through educational outreach, writing, and speaking about botany, orchid cultivation, terrarium construction, native gardening, fireflies, and paleontology. In 2022, he discovered the first population of a firefly previously unreported in Ohio, the Blue Ghost (Phausis reticulata). Since then, he has collaborated with local conservation organizations and city and county parks to do educational outreach and field research on firefly distribution in the Midwest. He is currently trying to modify his native garden to attract even more fireflies.
